2023 Vail Film Festival announces winning films
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Organizers of the 20th annual Vail Film Festival, which took place earlier this month, have announced the official award recipients for this year’s festival. “We received so many great films this year that it was challenging to make the final selections. We are very proud of the 2023 film program, and excited to once again be back in Vail for the festival,” said Sean Cross, executive director of the festival.
“This was our first year back in person since 2019, and we were thrilled with the audience response, and with the number of filmmakers who came to Vail to support their work,” festival director Corinne Hara said in a news release. “We are thankful to the many innovative and groundbreaking artists who joined us, and we want to thank our signature partners, the Town of Vail, Marc Bernstein New York, the National Endowment for the Arts, Colorado Creative Industries, and Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in San Francisco, as well as our patrons, volunteers, staff, and sponsors for their generous support.”
This year’s Vail Film Festival honored actor and producer Alicia Silverstone with the Excellence in Acting award, and actor Ava Acres, star of “No Right Way” with the Rising Star award.
Film winners
The 20th annual Vail Film Festival screened over 70 films, including narrative features, documentaries, short films, and student films. The Vail Film Festival jurors recognized exceptional films in the following categories:
Best Narrative Feature: “No Right Way“
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- Directed by: Chelsea Bo
- Written by: Chelsea Bo
- Starring: Ava Acres, Chelsea Bo, Eliza Coupe, Sufe Bradshaw
- Synopsis: Georgie, a brazen tween, is thrust into the guardianship of her half-sister Harper whose attempts to parent only lead to exposing their paralleled childhood wounds.
Best Documentary: “Las Abogadas: Attorneys on the Front Lines of the Migrant Crisis“
- Directed by: Victoria Bruce
- Produced by: Victoria Bruce
- Starring: Rebecca Eichler, Jodi Goodwin, Charlene D’Cruz, Mulu Alemayehu
- Synopsis: For four extraordinary women who practice immigration law, the refugee crisis is a call to action they can’t ignore.
Best Short Film: “Autopilot“
- Written and directed by: Jennifer Zhang
- Starring: Gina Su, Matt Gottlieb
- Synopsis: A lone pilot on a homebound space vessel finds herself trapped in a waking nightmare when her holographic “virtual companion” begins to defy his own programming.
Best Short Documentary: “Carrying Capacity”
- Written and directed by: Ethan Goldwater
- Starring: Karl Alexander Deisseroth, TW Jonathan
- Synopsis: The fortuitous meeting of a neurodivergent Silicon Valley computer engineer suffering from panic attacks and a talented young neuroscientist leads to a discovery that forever alters our understanding of human expression across the autism spectrum.
Best Student Film: “Daedalus“
- Written and directed by: Katerina Munis
- Starring: Katerina Munis, Gigi Puana, Alberto Frezza
- Synopsis: Young refugee Lux fights to escape a detainment camp under the shadow of her mysterious and cruel sister, Arsinoe.
Audience Award: “7000 Miles“
Directed by: Amy Glazer
- Written by: Colette Freedman
- Starring: Wendie Malick, Alixzandra Dove, Juliet Mills, Maxwell Caufield, Laird Akeo
- Synopsis: A passionate pilot is challenged by her grandmother to live her life on her own terms but finds herself at a crossroads when that could mean revealing her grandmother’s long-buried secrets.
Best Performance Award: Melora Hardin in “Golden Vanity”
Written and directed by: Max Abram
- Starring: Melora Hardin
- Synopsis: Hollywood, 1967 — After an unhinged stage crash at an awards show, faded movie star Mabel Montgomery-Mayflower barricades herself in her mansion to record her life story, before it’s too late.
Feature Screenplay winners:
1st place: “Saving Mark Twain” by Staton Rabin
2nd place: “From Above” by Ben Tedesco
3rd place: “Scout’s Honor” by Cynthia Mersten
Short Screenplay winners:
1st place: “The Ride” by Alysha Haran
2nd place: “The New Moon In The Old Moon’s Arms” by David Sanders
3rd place: “Korean Shooter” by Jimmy Prosser
Television Pilot winners:
1st place: “Vivienne Varlette” by Demi Aspey
2nd place: “Otherworld NJ” by Matthew McLachlan
3rd place: “Pink and Purple” by Jazeel Gayle
For more information about the Vail Film Festival, visit VailFilmFestival.com.
